Baked Veggies: YUM!

We're prepping for our 9 news segment tomorrow, and part of our tips on picky eaters will focus on different ways to prep vegetables, other than the traditional steaming. I needed some inspiration, so I turned to my favorite resource, Petit Appetit: Eat, Drink, and be Merry, by Lisa Barnes. The following two recipes from this cookbook are perfect examples of how to turn otherwise commonplace veggies into delightful dippers!

Baked Zuke Sticks

Good snack food, side dish, or party food with a side of marinara for dipping.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup dried bread crumbs
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup organic milk
3 medium zucchini, cut into 3 x 1/2 inch pieces

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

In medium bowl, combine bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Place flour on plate and pour milk into shallow bowl.

Dip each stick into flour until coated, then in milk. Finally, roll in bread crumb mixture until covered pressing so mixture adheres to zucchini.

Transfer zuke sticks to prepared pan and bake for 22 to 24 minutes, until zucchini is tender and coating is crisp and brown.

Baked Sweet Potato Chips
Great dipped in artichoke dip, yogurt, or salsa.

Ingredients:
1 large organic sweet potato, thinly sliced
2 T extra virgin olive oil
sea salt, black pepper or other dried herbs such as rosemary and oregano or cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. Line baking sheet with foil and grease foil.

Thinly slice potato using a mandolin or steady, sharp knife. Put potato slices in resealable plastic bag. Drizzle with oil and coat on all sides. (this step is great for kids to help with)

Place slices in single layer on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper or herbs, if desired (another good kid step). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. To move them to "crunchy" status turn down heat to 325 and cook and additional 5 to 10 min until crisp. Remove slices and cool.

What's New with Mish+Mash

There are a lot of exciting things happening here at Mish+Mash this week. First, we officially launched our new improved website. Our web guru (aka Nicole's husband) has been hard at work fine tuning and redesigning the whole site inside and out & top to bottom. I hope everyone finds it easy to navigate and full of helpful resources. We would love to hear what you think and if you have any suggestions of things you'd like to see etc.. we encourage you to email us at info@mishmashhomemade.com or post directly to our Facebook page.

Second, tune into the 4 o'clock telecast of 9 news on Wednesday, September 1st to see our t.v. debut. We will be speaking on the subject of "picky eaters" who we like to refer to as "kids with discerning palates". If you can't catch it don't worry we will be blogging about our whole experience. We will also post the recipes and more information from our on air discussion on Wednesday. We are excited, terrified, and hoping we don't pull a Cindy Brady. (The episode where she became transfixed by the light on the camera and stared dumbfounded without uttering a word.)

Being the last week of August I suggest taking the time to get to visit your local farmers market while you can. Here is a list of fruits & veggies currently in season:

Vegetables
cucumbers
corn
eggplant
tomatoes
summer squash
green beans
lettuce

Fruits
watermelon
strawberries
cantaloupe
blueberries
peaches
apricots
kiwi
raspberries
plums

Wondering where the markets are located near you http://www.localharvest.org/.

HAPPY MONDAY!!

Food for Thought Friday

Usually on Fridays, we'll post one of the following:

• Alternatives to usual storebought brand name baby, toddler, or kid food including recipes (also to be posted on labelo.us)
• Restaurant reviews on family friendliness
• Food for thought (links to related topics that we've found over the week).

This week, I found an article that puts into perspective why we're doing the work we do at Mish+Mash. You may have heard of The School Lunch Project, about Mrs. Q, a teacher who ate school lunch every day and lived to blog about it. A guest blogger shared a thought provoking post about how young poor eating can start, and how inequities in schools tend to feed this spiraling problem.

Also amusing was the following post from Yummy Mummy, a woman who took it upon herself to teach preschoolers to cook beyond the usual cheese and crackers. Nicole and I hope to teach lunchbox classes to kiddos as our business progresses, so I found this both interesting and humorous as we look ahead to the future and I look back on my teaching days. It's pretty inspirational for our own cooking with kids in our own kitchens, I've gotta say.

Happy Friday (belated)! We look forward to sharing more with you next week. Remember to watch out for us Wednesday on 9 News at 4 PM!

Homemade Tomato Soup

What might one do with those ripe, summer-sweetened tomatoes? There's always the traditional salsa or canning, but have you ever thought about making homemade tomato soup? Put this up against your usual storebought brand and you'll be amazed at the difference. This recipe is pure and simple cream of tomato soup- no frills so that the taste of summer's harvest is unadulterated.

Pick up or scour your garden for some large, juicy varieties such as beefsteak. You want them at the peak of their ripeness, and even overripe will do. This is a recipe that my 19 month old enjoyed spooning up (though messy, what toddler isn't?) with crackers to dip. A side salad or grilled cheese sandwich would accompany this beautifully.

Cream of Tomato Soup

6 large peeled, cored, and seeded tomatoes (the sweetest you can find)
2 T butter
2 T flour
2 cups whole milk
salt and pepper to taste


Directions: Start by coring tomatoes with knife or corer. Then begin blanching your tomatoes. In simmering water, place tomatoes for 2 minutes or until skin lifts away. (you can use this pot next for tomatoes, just discard old water).
Next, drop tomatoes into cool water bath in sink. One by one, pull skin off, pull apart meat of tomato, and remove as many seeds as you can (I'm not a stickler about this). Put tomatoes back into pan. Cook over medium heat, simmering, and reduce heat and cook until completely cooked down.
Now you're ready to make your cream base. In another small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until it's smooth and bubbly. Slowly whisk in milk, not allowing to boil but allowing to just thicken.


Now it's time for the magic! Add the cream base to the tomatoes (as long as tomatoes are cooked down) and add salt and pepper to taste. At this point you can either put the soup in a sturdy blender for more liquid consistency, or leave it chunky as I do. Until you taste it, you won't know why I'm such a fanatic about it.... it's truly summer in a bowl.

Tip of the Week: Using Leftover Puree Cubes

You may have pureed your heart out when your baby was little, and now you have some cubes left in your freezer. Perhaps you have a toddler who is on a veggie boycott. We have a solution!

There are actually companies out there that market frozen puree cubes as nutritional supplements for your everyday foods, so why not use your baby food knowledge and make these yourself? Genius.

Use those leftover purees to add to plain yogurt, cereal, smoothies, or even muffin recipes. Apple or pear puree makes a great addition to zucchini bread recipes, for example. You could even try popping sweet potato puree into mac & cheese.

Right now, I'm trying to incorporate spinach puree cubes into our 19 month old's diet. I plan to pop the spinach into marinara sauce, pizza sauce, and even smoothies, as spinach is a superfood that is rarely enjoyed by our little foodie on its own. Yes, this is technically "hiding", and yes, I want her to eat sauteed spinach on its own someday. But for now, I just want to get it in her diet for the fabulous vitamins it provides.

Turning One Meal into Three

If there is one thing I've gotten really good at since adding a toddler into the mix is how to make a meal go as far as possible. I love to cook, but just like everyone I don't always have the time to make 3 meals a day 7 days a week all from scratch and just like everyone I need to stick to a food budget and cooking all those meals would be quite expensive. So it is imperative that when I think up dinner ideas I also consider how they can transform into lunch, dinner, and even breakfast over the next couple of days. Here is an example of how different recipes start with dinner and go from there.

DINNER: Lemon-Mint Chicken with Couscous & Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes

Lemon-Mint Chicken

ingredients:

olive oil

fresh lemon juice

fresh mint - 1 tsp minced

salt & pepper

skinless boneless chicken breast enough to feed the family and have leftovers (make sure to buy good quality chicken breast, organic, free range. If you have had trouble getting your kiddos to eat meat it could be that it is too dry or overcooked. Shredding it also helps with texture.)

directions:

Preheat over to 400 degrees. Set an oiled rack (optional) in an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. You may also bake directly on baking sheet.

In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, mint, and salt and pepper to taste.

Put Chicken on prepared rack and drizzle with oil and lemon mixture. Bake, turning one, until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the enter, 12 - 15 minutes per side.

Couscous

ingredients:

golden raisins - 1/2 cup

unsalted butter - 1 tbsp

salt - 1/2 tsp to taste

ground cinnamon and cumin - 1/4 tsp each

Israeli couscous - 1 1/2 cups or enough to feed your family w/ leftovers

directions:

In a sauce pan over medium-high heat, combine 1 1/2 cups water, raisins, butter, salt, cinnamon, and cumin and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 5 minutes. Give a final stir and serve.

Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes ( or any small potatoes)

ingredients:

olive oil - 1 tablespoon

potatoes - enough to feed your family and for leftovers

fresh rosemary - 2 sprigs minced

salt & pepper

directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut potatoes into small cubes and place in a large bowl. Add olive oil, rosemary, and salt & pepper and toss. Place potatoes onto an oiled baking sheet and bake until tender 25 to 30 minutes.

Recommendation: Cook potatoes first, then allow the oven to cool down to temperature and bake the chicken. Leave potatoes on the stove top, covered, to keep warm.

Breakfast or Lunch: Egg, potato, & spinach scramble

Egg, Potato, & Spinach Scramble

ingredients:

leftover potatoes

eggs - enough to feed your family approximately 1 - 2 eggs per person. Beaten.

1/4 cup of fresh spinach finely chopped.

butter - 1 tablespoon

salt & pepper

cream cheese - 1 tablespoon

directions:

Heat butter in a fry pan over medium heat. Add spinach, salt & pepper, and saute until tender. Meanwhile in a bowl place the leftover potatoes and mash up with a fork to a fine consistency. Add eggs, potatoes, and cream cheese to the spinach and cook thoroughly until the eggs are no longer runny.

This can also be a great lunch idea and can also be turned into a burrito with some fresh salsa added.

Lunch or Dinner: Chicken, Mango, & Avocado Quesadillas

Chicken, Mango, & Avocado Quesadillas

ingredients:

whole wheat tortillas

vegetable oil

cheese (any kind you wish) 1 1/2 cups grated

shredded leftover chicken

ripened mango - 1 peeled, pitted, and sliced

ripened avocado - 1 peeled, pitted, and sliced

fresh cilantro - 1/4 cup chopped

mild fresh salsa or plain yogurt for serving (optional)

direction:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush tortillas with oil. Place tortillas, oil side down on a baking sheet, two at a time. Sprinkle each with one-quarter of the cheese, half the chicken, half the mango, half the avocado, half the cilantro, and another one-quarter of the cheese. Top each with 1 tortilla, pressing to adhere, brush top with oil.

Bake quesadillas until filling is heated through and edges begin to crisp, about 10 minutes. Using a large metal spatula, carefully turn each over and bake until bottom is crisp, about 5 minutes.

Transfer quesadillas to plates. Cut into wedges. Allow to cool before serving. (Wrap leftover quesadillas in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to two weeks)

Snack: Leftover couscous can be served cold with whole wheat pita bread for a great healthy snack.

Age Appropriate:

For those in various stages of eating you can simply puree, chop, and blend to make all these ingredients work your own little one. 9 to 12 months - simply put the chicken into a food processor and grind into the appropriate consistency add the mango for a different flavor, the potatoes can be mashed as well. Babies (6 to 9 months) may be too young for chicken, but pureed mango, and avocado are always a hit.

I hope these ideas will make you think differently about taking the time to prepare a homemade meal for you family. If one meal can easily be transformed into numerous meals you will save time, money, and frustration.

Bon Appetit!!

What's Cookin'...

+image courtesy of labelo.us

Now that you know a little bit about Mish+Mash, we're going to work to make our blog more predictable. One of us will try our darndest to write daily, and you'll see the following (as long as one of our toddlers isn't having one of "those" days):

Monday: "What's Cookin'..."A list of upcoming workshops, events, and things to do around town
Tuesday: Nicole's Recipe
Wednesday: FAQ's or Book Recommendation (Send those questions our way!)
Thursday: Sarah's Recipe
Friday: Restaurant Review or Labelo.us Review (more on that later) or TBD


And here's what's cookin':

There's a lot happening in our world. We've booked 3 home socials for September. This Saturday marks our final summer date for a Pureed Goodness course at Spiral. We'd love to get folks to come to this- summer is a tough time to fill workshops, and we know you Mish+Mash mamas are out there! If you want to take this workshop, but haven't been able to make dates, shoot us an email and we'll do our best to get a date that works for you.

We're excited to announce that we'll have our very own Mish Mash channel on the newly released Labelo.us. It's a very cool app. for iPhones that scans products and pulls up numerous reviews, or channels, for you to read up on the products. Very helpful for the conscious shopper. We'll start with basic baby foods and give alternative recipes, and work from there. If you have a specific product you'd like us to review, let us know! Oh, and the app is free, and has just been launched, so give it a shot! Our goal is for this to become a way for parents to find homemade alternatives to storebought, that they can feel confident about.

And, the grand finale: drum roll! We are scheduled to have a short snippet on 9 News at 4:00 on September 1st. Our lovely PR guru, Melissa of Lola Bird Communications, has worked her magic for us, and ready or not, here we go! The topic will be picky eaters. Our reactions are a mix of excitement, nervousness, and worry about how it will all go- but we know it'll be fun, and so great for Mish+Mash.

Other than that, some things around town to think about trying this week:

Brittney Coffey of Boom Fitness has a fabulous stroller bootcamp every Friday at 8, along with various other classes. It's at Berkeley Park.
Head on down to the Highland Farmer's Market this Saturday; you won't be disappointed!
Nicole highly recommends Zoppe'- a small Italian circus. I'm so excited to try it out!